Recently, I have been juggling too many writing projects. Add to that the pressure of marketing my latest book, being present on social media, managing my blog site, helping the kids with their studies and Olympiad examinations, managing the tiffins and Diwali cleaning – that’s enough to drive anyone crazy.

This was when I decided to move away from my Bullet Journal system to a Binder Planner.

Bullet Journal System:

A bullet journal system is an analog system of managing all your tasks and projects. In the simplest form, it requires just a notebook (dotted pages are popular) and a pen. I have been using the bullet journal method of planning my day for nearly two years. I have shared many images of my bullet journal on my Instagram handle. You can find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/archanasarat/

You can learn about how this system works by clicking here: https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn However, the bullet journal system needs you to start from scratch. You can mould it to suit your individual preferences. That is advantageous but it is time-consuming. I wanted to move into a readymade planner which will also give me an opportunity to use my creativity. So, I moved to the binder planner.

This is a simple system. I bought a binder on Amazon. It came with a set of dividers and tabs. This is the binder that I purchased.

I laminated some of my own printed papers and stuck the tabs that came with the paper. I purchased some planner printables from Etsy. Right now, I’ve made my own planner printables and offer them to all my Newsletter subscribers. If you want to pick them up, please drop a mail at MailReadWriteInspire@gmail.com and mention ‘Planner Templates’ in the Subject column.

Some of my own printables can also be seen in the video below. I made these using Microsoft Word. I printed these printables and put them into my binder. Voila! My Binder Planner is ready! I simply loved the system. It was less time-consuming. I could still add washi tapes, stickers and stamps depending on the time available for that day.

The only drawback was that the binder was in A4 size and it became too difficult to carry it around. My husband was travelling to Singapore just then. So, I asked him to pick up a Kikki.K Large Leather Planner. It did help that Kikki.K was running a big sale just then.

Kikki.K Planner

I used many of the inserts that I purchased from Printable Pineapple in this planner too. It is just that I printed them out as an A5 size. I did the same for the inserts that I made by myself. I explain how I have set up my planner and how I use it in the videos below. I hope you find them useful. If you have any queries or if you want to know more, please comment below.